"The bottleneck of the system is the Internet's speed when downloading high resolution audio files, but I did that overnight. Being able to provide my contribution to the song as a mixing engineer on my own time was perfect for my ever-changing and busy schedule and allowed for great flexibility in the workflow. (Of course having a board with total recall was a key factor as well, because I was able to get back to my mix at any time to do some tweaks.) I am definitely looking forward to do more work through eSession."

Tom Roady.

Percussionist Tom Roady said, "I found the process to be very simple — much simpler than I had thought. Spencer had organized his guide tracks very well so they were easy to follow. Even though we used different recording formats, his tracks loaded up into my Pro Tools fine. We were able to communicate well with each other and narrow down specifics of what Spencer wanted me to add, and the eSession techs were very helpful in moving the process along. This was my first eSession song; I'm doing more even as I write this and I am a big believer in eSession. It is really the logical way to record in this changing recording scene."

Byron House. (Photo: Don Shorock)

Bass player Byron House added, "This was my second song using eSession. I listened to Spencer's demo and was happy to accept the job. We had a short, successful negotiation, facilitated by eSession's offer/counter-offer feature. After we agreed on a price, I received 50% payment up front, as stipulated by eSession's client/talent agreement.

"The eSession website is very user friendly, and I was able to download the other musicians' parts as they were completed. It was great to be able to alter my mix as I overdubbed. I could easily turn up the kick drum, for example, or isolate any instrument to help me with the groove or with making choices on my bass part in general. I played two passes on the song, getting helpful, instructive feedback from Spencer on the first pass, and his approval of my performance on the second.

"I uploaded my finished part, and Spencer gained access to the download by paying the remaining 50% of my fee. Sweet. When Gina Fant-Saez's vocal and Bruce Kaphan's steel were uploaded, it was great to be able to check in on the progress as Spencer would post roughs on the MP3 player of eSession's song page.

"As I am writing this comment I am listening to Marc Urselli's final mix and totally digging the finished product — kudos to everyone for their great work! This is a very cool song that almost certainly couldn't have ended up sounding like it does had it been approached through any means other than eSession. Thanks to the good work and support of the eSession team, the world of recording as we know it just got bigger...or smaller, depending on how you look at it."